1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of syndromic surveillance, and, more particularly, to automated behavioral video and audio monitoring for infectious diseases.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fear of infectious diseases and bioterrorism events is a cause for concern among many in today's social landscape. For example, during November 2002 through July 2003, a total of 8,098 people worldwide became sick with severe acute respiratory syndrome (“SARS”) that was accompanied by either pneumonia or respiratory distress syndrome (probable cases), according to the World Health Organization (“WHO”). Of these, 774 died. For another example, between September and October 2001, letters containing Bacillus anthracis (known commonly as “anthrax”) were received by mail in several parts of the United States. A widespread scare of handling United States mail soon ensued.
Fortunately, infectious outbreaks for both of the above examples were contained before the public health was substantially jeopardized. However, it is well-accepted that future outbreaks of infectious disease and bioterrorism events, which can rapidly spread without notice, may not be so easily contained without earlier detection and response. Controlling rapidly-spreading, infectious diseases and sicknesses require that infected individuals be promptly identified, treated and quarantined, if necessary, to prevent further outbreak.
Syndromic surveillance is a methodology for finding individuals who manifest a syndrome (i.e., a collection of symptoms) associated with a disease or sickness. For infectious diseases, syndromic surveillance can provide a source of infection and prevent further outbreak. For bioterrorism events, syndromic surveillance can provide early detection of widespread dissemination of bioterrorism agents, prompting life-saving treatment of those infected and timely containment of the deadly agents.
Traditional syndromic surveillance technology generally relies on manual reporting of symptoms, syndromes, and diagnoses by health care workers. One difficulty with this approach is that a patient may wait before diagnosis and treatment of the infectious disease or sickness. If the patient waits too long, the patient may not receive potentially life-saving treatment in time. If a patient has an infectious disease, the wait may allow the patient to infect several other people prior to seeking adequate health care. If a patient is sick because of a bioterrorism event, the wait may postpone the determination by health officials of the bioterrorism event. These difficulties, among others, substantially limit the effectiveness of traditional syndromic surveillance.